The conditions of a radio link under which a wireless communication system operates may change at any time. Since a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) is mobile, the WTRU may be out-of-range, or within range of one or more APs depending upon the position of the WTRU. When an AP is newly established, or powers up again after powering down for some reason, the startup process of the AP must evaluate its radio resource environment. Typically, the startup process also provides a mechanism for announcing itself to other APs of its own extended service set (ESS) such that the other APs can self-adjust their own operating parameters accordingly.
There are several current schemes that are employed in order to increase the capacity of a wireless communication system. Channel, i.e., frequency, selection is one of such schemes, whereby one or more APs in a network select one or more channels to communicate with their associated WTRUs. Coordination of AP channel selection is usually performed manually. However, it is very impractical to manually coordinate channel selection in response to every small change in the network configuration since it may cause a redesign and reconfiguration of all APs. Unlicensed spectra and external sources of interference also raise problems that are not adequately addressed by manual coordination. Moreover, it is difficult for manual channel selection to assign channels such that the traffic loads of neighboring APs are shared among the available channels in a way that maximizes overall system capacity.
Another problem with prior art schemes is encountered when a multiple APs attempt to power-up simultaneously. When this occurs within a network, all of the APs try to make a channel selection at the same time. Thus, the channel selection by the APs would not be optimal since each AP does not take into account the channel selection of neighboring APs.
A method and system which overcomes the above-mentioned problems would be greatly beneficial.